How important are reviews to your online business? Very.
To determine how influential reviews are to the shopping process, CardRates.com surveyed online consumers who overwhelmingly (99%) say they check out reviews before making an online purchase, and 97% say the reviews influence their purchasing decisions. And 33% say before buying anything they always read online reviews.
While online reviews have long been available to shoppers, 68% of those surveyed say online reviews have become more influential for them in the last few years. The survey shows that 86% of consumers would willingly spend more for a product with better reviews than a cheaper product with “mixed feedback.”
Obviously, it’s important to encourage your customers to leave reviews. But not all reviews are considered helpful. The consumers surveyed report that online reviews that only feature a star rating are the least helpful. They want more to see more feedback.
The survey also shows that shoppers are not satisfied with just reading one or two reviews. Rather, they consider a product “well-reviewed” if it has an average of 277 online reviews. Honestly, that sounds untenable. As an avid reader of reviews myself, there is no way I’d read through that many reviews. CardRate.com says consumers aren’t reading every review but spend about 18 minutes reading them before making a purchase. And before they feel good about buying something, they generally read six online reviews.
Check out the major online sellers to see how they handle their review process. Some offer consumers the ability to see the 10 best and 10 worst reviews.
Obviously, small businesses are not likely to have 300 reviews of a product. Don’t let that discourage you. Concentrate on the fact the survey says consumers generally read about six online reviews.
You can also supplement those reviews by including any reviews of products you sell that appear in media. Always give attribution and link to the original source. For instance, let’s say you sell home décor. A quick online search of a specific product may reveal that magazines like Real Simple or HGTV gave a pillow or other item you sell, a positive review. You can say something like, “As featured in HGTV magazine, and link to the post.
When deciding to buy, 76% of consumers prefer products that have at least a 4 rating out of 5. Negative reviews discourage purchases—96% of survey respondents say they’ve changed their minds after reading negative reviews. Still, you must feature them if you get them. A site without negative reviews does not seem authentic.
Online reviews help establish trust in a company or brand (92% of consumers agree with that sentiment) while 82% of those surveyed don’t trust products without any reviews.
The most trusted reviews come from “verified purchasers, friends or family, or professional critics. The least trusted reviews include those by celebrities or influencers and promotional reviews.”
And about 60% of those surveyed say they only consider reviews written with the last year relevant.
As I noted above, it’s essential for you to encourage your customers to write reviews. That’s not as hard as it used to be, 80% of those surveyed have written a review for a product.
Rieva Lesonsky is President of Small Business Currents, LLC, a content company focusing on small businesses and entrepreneurship. Email Rieva at rieva@smallbusinesscurrents.com, follow her on Twitter @Rieva, and to get the scoop on business trends and sign up for Rieva’s free Currents newsletter.
Reviews picture by Black Salmon/Shutterstock.
